therefore I would not permit any of your writings to come into my house, till I heard a person read your Bank of Faith; this caused me to think that I had been fighting against a true faith, for this appeared to me very different from my old friend's faith.

Soon after this I was coming to London, and was under sore temptations to disbelieve my sonship; this caused me to seek the Lord by prayer, and he gave me fresh manifestations of his love. I asked the Lord to bring you into the pulpit with some text of scripture respecting the moral law, and he really answered my prayer, for you spoke from these words, "The law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death." Under this discourse I saw that my soul was in bondage, and that I was left there, that Solomon's words might be fulfilled in me, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." And this I had to the full after I returned home, and was forced to leave my old place where I used to hear, and try other ministers, but found no satisfaction under them.

At another time, a little before I was coming to London, I heard three different preachers handle this text of scripture, "But his mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely;" but I got no satisfaction from what they said. This drove me to prayer in the fields, and I asked the Lord to let me hear you preach from the same text on the Tuesday evening following, at Monkwell street;

and the Lord answered me, for you preached from the same words, and I found it a Bethel to my soul.

At another time, under sore distress, I was at prayer in the woods, and the Lord broke in upon my soul afresh with his lovingkindness and tender mercy; my faith was in exercise, and I set this as a criterion, That if the Lord would let me hear you on the next sabbath-day on sanctification, that I then would believe that what my soul had past under was a work of God's grace; and you spake from these words, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth:" I wondered at this, as you knew nothing of me. On the next Tuesday evening I heard you from the 11th of the Revelations, and the Lord set my soul at liberty from legal bondage. Oh! the condescension of Jesus to hear and answer the prayer of so ungrateful a wretch as me! when you, Sir, little thought for whose sake your texts were given. No tongue can express the love, joy, and peace, I have enjoyed in the presence of God under your preaching; I never heard you preach but what there was something impressed on my mind which gave lasting satisfaction to my soul.

I have heard that you are coming to Bolney. There are a few people that desire the sincere milk of the word, and I have asked the Lord to bring you to us in God's strength, that you may separate the vile from the precious, and be as God's mouth: my soul is on the watch to hear what the

Lord will speak to me by his servant. Mr. J— has been made very useful in the hands of the Lord in labouring amongst us; we have no other preacher near us who is any further than in the letter, and I bless God there has not been one of them hid from my eyes since I heard you on the Revelations. I know you are a man in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and if I am worthy of an answer, let me hear from you as soon as time will permit. If you knew how my soul is knit to you in love, it would cause you to look over my blots, and pardon me for troubling you. My prayer is, that the Lord may bless you, and make you useful to his people. I remain, the least of all God's saints,

M. R.

LETTER LXIX.

To Mr. M. R. Bolney.

BELOVED OF GOD, AND DEAR BROTHER IN

CHRIST,

THINE epistle came safe to hand. The contents Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will towards men." It is truly an ori

are,

ginal, an exact copy of the hand-writing within, written with the finger of God on the fleshly tables of thine heart, which hath made thee a living epistle known and read of all men. And God hath added his seal to the hand-writing; for it was attended with a great degree of assurance, which ratifies and confirms the truth of the gospel upon the soul, and seals it up to the day of redemption, which is to us a pledge and an earnest of the future inheritance; you may call it the firstfruits of the Spirit, and of that glory which shall be revealed in us.

The tidings are choice, sweet and precious. I knew the voice as soon as the sound of thy salutation reached my heart; for it is an echo of the voice of the Son of God reflected from an adopted child; a witness on earth, resounding from the records of heaven, proclaiming another branch of his work done, which is to purify the sons of Levi, that they may bring a pure offering in righteousness; and is a confirmation of the faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin

ners.

The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. He whose garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, hath visited him, and virtue is gone out of him; from hence came the odour, unction, and the sweet savour, which are emitted from a manifestation of himself; which makes his name as ointment poured forth: and the ointment of thy right hand will soon betray itself.

The cup of salvation hath its peculiar overflowings, and the words of wisdom are a flowing brook, because the spring of the waters of life cannot be confined: "Spring up, O well! Sing ye unto it;" and well we may, seeing it shall spring up within us into everlasting life.

Thou art not the first poor man, my son, who hath had the sad hap to fall among thieves: they may strip us and wound us, but they cannot kill us quite; they are obliged to leave us as soon as we are half dead, that the good Samaritan may display his skill. Gilead is never without a physician, nor yet without balm; and therefore the health of God's elect must be recovered, that they may bear witness to the truth; ye are my witnesses.

I know of no worse trap to a wounded spirit than a minister of the letter, who holds the truth in unrighteousness; a doctrine of the gospel in his mouth deceives the simple; and a hard heart deceives himself, and drives him into rash presumption: such cannot allure, but through the lust of the flesh and much wantonness; nor can they encourage, but by arrogance and ignorance. Blind zeal, legal pride, self conceit, and vain confidence are communicated by too too many, which in the end is sure to make sad work for conscience; for it is no less than fuel to feed the furnace of affliction, or else a worse furnace. But it is by such men that the contrary part are made manifest, and the precious separated from the vile, for, "He